When Li Long found Xie Yundong, he was carrying an iron spade over his shoulder, ready to head to the fields. Seeing Li Long approach, Xie Yundong had an inkling of why he was there. He put down the spade and asked:
"Xiao Long, you're back. Have you got news?"
"Yes, the job's come through. It's confirmed-a thousand this year, far more than last year. Ideally, we should head into the mountains in the next couple of days. What do you think...?"
"I'll go tell everyone right now," Xie Yundong said immediately. "When does it have to be finished? Do we need more people?"
"By the end of May. My eldest brother and Lu Yingming are going too, but we won't add anyone else. Just the people you knew about last time. The team leader told me you'd asked Lao Huang along?"
"Yes, someone has to cook," Xie Yundong said. "Your father-in-law said he wasn't going this time, so I had to find someone else. Lao Huang's the team's cook, so his cooking will be fine. The team isn't supplying the workers this year, so we can't pay him in work points, can we? We can't issue those ourselves, either. I discussed it with the others, and we decided everyone would chip in to pay him cash. He was happy with that. Originally, he thought he could earn sixty or seventy yuan in a month out there. Now it's a hundred, and he's delighted."
"All right. I'll go see whether Daqiang wants to go. Either way, I'll have him let you know. I brought the tractor, and I'm heading into the mountains today. Anyone who wants to go today can come find me. Oh, how were you planning to get there?"
"We were originally planning to ride on your tractor